Adrien (1943)

Adrien is a French film comedy first released in 1943, directed by Fernandel.  The film stars Fernandel, Jean Tissier, André Gabriello, Roger Duchesne and Paul Azaïs.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Modest bank employee Adrien Moulinet sees an opportunity to achieve wealth and fame, thanks to his revolutionary invention: the motorised roller skate.  But, without money and experience, how is he to market his new brainchild?  He turns to an out-of-work ad-man Jules to help him.  With the support of three women, and a certain amount of good luck, Adrien soon finds himself being propelled up the social ladder...

The pressures of working for Continental Films seem not to have dented Fernandel’s enthusiasm one iota and in this entertaining farce – which he also directed – the great comic actor gives a typically ebullient performance.  The Nazi-run company was clearly keen to exploit Fernandel’s popularity, and maybe allowing the comedian to direct the film was a cheap way of buying his complicity.  In any event, it wasn’t Fernandel’s first directing job – he’d already cut his directorial teeth on Simplet , made just before the Occupation.  It is not hard to see why, in France’s darkest hour, a film like this would have been greatly appreciated by the masses.

© James Travers 2003

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